Homily: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A
Friends,
in today’s gospel we heard this very famous parable from Jesus about the sower
and the seed. It’s one of Jesus’ best
parables because it describes well the challenges we humans face when it comes
to our relationship with God. God comes
to us as the sower and wants to embed his seed in us in order to produce the
good fruits of his kingdom in the world.
The seed, however, doesn’t often find rich soil. Of the four examples Jesus gives, only one
out of the four is rich soil, demonstrating that the majority of those on whom
the seed falls will not receive it and produce fruit.
This
is an important point to note. Normally,
we interpret this gospel passage in a moral sense and conclude: “I need to
cultivate the ‘soil’ of my soul so that God’s word can take root in me and bear
fruit. If my soul is too hardened, too rocky, or too full of weeds, then I need
to change in order to make it ‘rich soil’ for God.” This is a perfectly pious conclusion to draw,
and if it inspires you to make that effort, then it is truly a gift of the Holy
Spirit.
What
I want to note, however, is that this doesn’t seem to be the point that Jesus
is making. Notice that Jesus makes
almost no moral claims in this passage.
He doesn’t exhort the people to examine their hearts and change so as to
become “rich soil” for the Word of God.
Rather, he seems to be “trolling” these “would-be” disciples who have
gathered to listen to them. Staring them
right in their faces, he seems to be saying, “Many of you have your hearts so
hardened that even if the gift of salvation fell right on top of you, you
wouldn’t receive it. Still others are so shallow that you will never have the
fortitude to withstand the pressures of discipleship. Still others are so mired
in your sins that you can’t possibly find your way out. Truly, there are only a
few of you who can receive this message and produce its fruit.” In fact, the only moral claim that he makes
in this is, “Those who have ears ought to hear.” Jesus seems simply to be describing the
anticipated reality that he and his apostles will face as they proclaim the
Gospel.
This
is further reinforced when Jesus is instructing his disciples later. When they ask him, “Why do you speak to them
in parables?”, he says to them, “Because… to them [the knowledge of the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven] has not been granted.” Thus, we come to an uncomfortable
realization: God seems know that there are people who will not receive the gift
of salvation, and he seems to be okay
with it. He even quotes the prophet
Isaiah in order to clarify that this is what he means: “I speak to them in
parables,” he says, “because… ‘Gross is the heart of this people, they will
hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes… lest they… understand
with their hearts and be converted and I heal them.’” Perhaps, therefore, it is best for us to step
back and ask ourselves: “Are we okay with the fact that God seems to be okay
with this?”
In
order to contend with this uncomfortable question, we have to remember
something important: salvation costs us something. Actually, let me clarify. The gift
of salvation costs us nothing: it is a gift freely given by God. Our
capacity to receive this gift is what costs us something. In the context of this parable, we see that
the cost of receiving the gift of salvation is: 1) giving up our hardened ways,
2) giving up our shallow faith, and 3) breaking free of our favorite sins. Think for a minute about yourselves, and how
difficult it has been for you to do any of these three things, and perhaps you
can come to the conclusion that maybe Jesus is being a realist here. In other words, since Jesus knows our human
nature so well, perhaps he is teaching in this way because he knows that many
won’t do this work, no matter how much encouragement and grace they will
receive. In other words, many people
will see what it will cost them to receive salvation and will decide that it is
too much and, thus, decline to receive the gift. Perhaps, therefore, Jesus wishes to teach his
disciples about this, so that they won’t be discouraged when their own attempts
to “sow the seed” don’t produce the fruit they expect.
All
this having been said, I don’t think that we are supposed to be okay with the
fact that God seems to be okay with this situation. And so, how should we react? First, I think we should always respond with
gratitude. If we are sitting here today
and hearing this message, it is because God’s word fell on our “soil” and found
it rich enough to start to bear fruit.
Knowing what we now know, that this is not a guaranteed response to God’s
word, we should give thanks that, by God’s grace, we have been made ready to
receive this gift.
Second,
I think that we should be realistic after the model of Jesus when we think
about evangelization. The parable tells
us that the sower sows his seeds indiscriminately. His work is to sow the seeds, not to ensure
that they all fall on “rich soil”. The
sower knows that much of the seed will not produce abundant fruit, but he still
sows, trusting that the multiplicity of the fruit produced by the rich soil
will make up for that which was lost. We
should respond the same. We must
proclaim the word of God indiscriminately, knowing that much of it will not be
heard favorably, yet trusting that, where it is received favorably, it will
produce a multiplicity of fruit.
Finally,
I think that we should be hopeful. Even
though Jesus seems to indicate that many people will not receive the gift of
salvation, the fact of the matter is that, as human beings, as long as we have
breath in our lungs, we have the capacity to change. Therefore, even if at first someone we care
for deeply does not respond to our loving invitation to receive the word of God
that we share with them, it does not mean that they are already lost. Knowing that grace is abundant—and abundantly
at hand—we must hold onto hope that these persons can open themselves to this
receive this gift and, therefore, never stop praying for this to happen.
Friends,
if we do these things, I think that we can find the strength to live with the uncomfortable
truth that God seems to be okay with the fact that some of his children will
not receive the grace of salvation, while nonetheless giving ourselves
continually to the work of evangelization without losing hope. As I said, however, it all stems from our
gratefulness for having received the gift of salvation ourselves, in spite of
the many obstacles we had to overcome in order to receive it. Therefore, as we offer this Eucharist today,
let us make this our thanksgiving.
Strengthened by it, let us embrace this good work of sowing the seed and
become agents of God’s life-saving work in the world.
Given in Spanish at St. Patrick Church: Kokomo, IN – July 16th,
2023
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